Ingersoll Rand - Achievement in Human Resources

Company: Ingersoll Rand, Charlotte, NC
Entry Submitted By: Clairemont Communications
Company Description: Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE:IR), driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and ownership mindset, is committed to helping make life better. We provide innovative and mission-critical industrial, energy, medical and specialty vehicle products and services across 40+ respected brands designed to excel in even the most complex and harsh conditions where downtime is especially costly.
Nomination Category: Achievement Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Achievement in Human Resources

Nomination Title: Ingersoll Rand Unites Behind New Purpose

The current Ingersoll Rand touts a rich history of two leading industrial manufacturers. One of the oldest providers in the industry, Gardner Denver debuted a revolutionary effective speed control for steam engines in the 1850s, launching its 160-year journey of mission-critical compression and vacuum solutions and services. Gardner Denver became listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in 1994 and in 2017 announced a $100 million equity grant for all employees. Its current portfolio serves 30 countries across six continents.

With the invention of its steam-powered rock drill in the 1870s, Ingersoll Rand began building its portfolio of brands – such as Club Car, Ingersoll Rand and ARO – designed to enhance industrial productivity/efficiency.Ingersoll Rand blazed trails as the first manufacturer to be Class 0 certified for both oil-free rotary and centrifugal compressors. In the early 2000s, Ingersoll Rand celebrated 100 years on the NYSE as the 16th oldest company and the 12th oldest continuously listed company.

In March of 2020, Gardner Denver, Inc. merged with the Ingersoll Rand Industrials segment to form the new Ingersoll Rand, a global provider of mission-critical flow creation and industrial solutions.

It’s difficult to integrate two cultures, but this feat would seem to be an almost insurmountable challenge in March of 2020, the same month the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. That’s what faced Ingersoll Rand’s Human Resources department – a team determined to unite 16,000 global employees within 100 days of the newly formed Ingersoll Rand.

The HR team abandoned rote handbooks and automated online courses. Instead, the team employed innovation, dexterity and tenacity to tackle this challenge. Ingersoll Rand launched proprietary Purpose & Values Activation Sessions – small-group workshops designed to forge connections between employees and the new company’s purpose (“Lean on us to help you make life better”) and company values. Ingersoll Rand’s values included fostering inspired teams, cultivating a sense of inclusion, belonging and respect, and upholding equity in how people are treated.

Rather than employ external resources, Ingersoll Rand began with a train-the-trainer course to equip internal leaders to organize and deliver these workshops. Employees joined with their own local leadership to engage in a virtual workshop that strengthened relationships between employees and forged a deeper sense of trust and connection with leadership. From the factory worker in Shanghai to the Illinois salesperson, employees took an immersive journey to:

-Identify, explore and share their own values with inspiring reflections and personal stories; and

-Investigate the meaning behind the company’s purpose and values, connect their own values to the company’s purpose and craft a personal activation plan to enact these values personally and professionally.

Timing / Scope
Within three months, the HR team conceptualized and launched a global workshop that introduced the company’s Purpose & Values and conjoined employees across 70 countries. These sessions spanned geography, ethnicity and demographics to ensure diversity of opinion, perspective and experience. Attendance was tracked to ensure no employee was omitted; leaders were teachers, and design/deployment was done in-house to successfully achieve a 100-day deployment target with no external cost. Benchmarks on similar global initiatives require an 18-month deployment and a $750,000 budget.

Efficacy
Celebrating each person’s value, 16,000 employees united around the purpose and values, and subsequently fostered an environment where diverse points of view are appreciated. Ingersoll Rand’s benchmark for learning initiatives is 4.2 on five-point scale, and our metrics outperformed in every category with an average of 4.7.

Verbatims:
“One of the most impactful and meaningful experiences I have had in my 20-year career.”
“Loved the interactivity; our involvement helped us to learn better.”
“I will take accountability for my actions and understand how they affect those around me, and how they will impact and hopefully better the company.”

Sessions resulted in 16,000 people driving in a common direction to deliver value. The tangibly stronger culture from these sessions spurred innovation, and Ingersoll Rand achieved or surpassed quarterly goals. The company was in such a strong position in its first eight months that, despite the pandemic, it moved forward with awarding a $150 million equity grant to all employees, making them owners.

The Purpose & Values Activation Plan showcases the strategy and forethought invested in the initiative, the high level of vision and a blueprint that would equip the leadership for success on the tight 100-day timeline. The plan provides a clear link between the sessions, the company’s Purpose & Values and business growth goals, as well as stated outcomes to direct the project. The four-phased approach enabled a path from development to deployment that was scalable to any country or business unit – the strategic overview that guided the project from conceptualization to implementation.

The P&V Deck for Trainings brought the vision to life, providing tactical tools and steps to train the trainer on software, content, facilitation and delivery to ensure an effective, welcoming experience for all employees. Facilitators learned how to approach the Purpose and Values, questions to spark conversation, how to host effective breakout sessions and ways to encourage employees to forge connections between the personal values and company values.